OPay Limited more than quadrupled its profit after tax in the first half of 2026, as rapid lending growth lifted revenue by 136.5%. But rising expected credit losses and a sharp increase in loan write-offs raise questions about how much of the fintech’s earnings expansion can be sustained as it prepares for a proposed US listing and a planned secondary listing in Nigeria.
The company reported revenue of $467.06 million for the six months ended June 30, up from $197.48 million a year earlier. Profit after tax climbed to $90.87 million from $21.71 million, while operating profit increased to $131.24 million from $35.80 million.
The figures, disclosed in OPay’s October 9 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, show a business generating substantially more income from its growing customer base. They also reveal a shift in its revenue mix: lending has overtaken payment-related services as the company’s largest source of income.
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Income from loans issued rose 167.9% to $236.12 million, accounting for 50.6% of total revenue. Payment-related services generated $130.55 million, representing 27.9% of revenue, despite growing 86.9% year-on-year.
For a company widely associated with transfers and digital payments, the changing mix matters. Lending can increase revenue per customer and deepen engagement with the platform, but it also exposes the business to defaults, delayed repayments, and the cost of financing credit.
Lending Becomes OPay’s Biggest Revenue Engine
OPay’s credit business operates through two models. In Nigeria, its licensed microfinance banking subsidiary issues loans directly, leaving the company exposed to borrowers’ failure to repay. In Indonesia, third-party lenders provide the funding, while OPay connects lenders with borrowers and helps service the loans.
The Nigerian lending business generated $236.12 million in income, while the Indonesian operation contributed $41.57 million, or 8.9% of total revenue. Combined, the two credit businesses accounted for approximately 59.5% of OPay’s first-half revenue, with Nigeria responsible for about 85% of their combined credit income.
That concentration makes the performance of Nigerian borrowers important to OPay’s earnings outlook. New loans issued in Nigeria more than tripled to $927.63 million in the first half of 2026 from $305.12 million a year earlier. The number of unique borrowers per quarter also increased, rising from 3.5 million to 6.7 million.
OPay identified the higher volume of loans and the expansion of its borrower base as the main drivers of lending income growth. Although the company acknowledged relatively high interest rates on certain Nigerian credit products, its filing does not establish that higher rates were responsible for the increase in revenue.
The difference between loan growth and income growth is revealing. New lending volume rose by more than 200%, while lending income increased 167.9%, suggesting that the expansion was driven primarily by OPay extending credit to more borrowers and increasing the amount lent, rather than simply extracting more income from existing lending activity.
The company’s payments platform helps support that expansion. Transaction data can provide information that helps assess customers’ creditworthiness, while an established customer network gives OPay an existing channel through which to offer loans.
The relationship can benefit both sides of the business. Payment services attract users and generate transaction activity; lending creates an additional revenue stream and can encourage customers to remain within the ecosystem. Payment income growth of 86.9% also shows that OPay continues to expand its core services even as credit becomes more important.
However, the economics of the two activities differ. Additional payment transactions do not necessarily expose OPay to the same direct borrower-default risk as loans issued from its own balance sheet. As lending takes a larger share of revenue, credit performance becomes increasingly important to the quality of reported earnings.
OPay’s rising credit costs provide the clearest warning in its first-half results.
Expected credit-loss expenses increased 210.3% to $118.36 million, significantly outpacing the 167.9% growth in lending income. These expenses represent amounts the company estimates it may not recover from borrowers.
The charges absorbed 25.3% of total revenue, compared with 19.3% a year earlier. Put simply, OPay recognized approximately $25 in expected credit losses for every $100 of revenue, up from about $19 in the corresponding period of 2025.
The measure does not mean that OPay actually lost $25 in cash for every $100 earned during the period. Expected credit-loss expenses are accounting estimates of potential losses, and actual recoveries may differ. Nevertheless, the increase indicates that the company is setting aside a larger share of its revenue to account for credit risk.
Loan write-offs rose even more sharply. OPay wrote off $113.15 million in loans it considered uncollectible, a 520.5% increase from a year earlier. The six-month total exceeded the $69.95 million written off throughout 2025.
Write-offs weigh heavily on profit because they represent loans the company has judged unlikely to be recovered and removed from its books, although accounting write-offs do not necessarily prevent further collection efforts. The increase does not by itself establish whether underwriting standards deteriorated across the entire loan book, but it demonstrates the scale of credit losses being recognized as the business expands.
A separate measure provides a more mixed picture. At June 30, borrowers were late in repaying $113.80 million in outstanding loans and interest, equivalent to 27.4% of the $415.33 million owed to OPay.
The overdue share improved from 34.2% at the end of December 2025. Yet the absolute amount overdue increased from $93.71 million. The percentage declined because the total loan book grew faster than the amount awaiting repayment.
That distinction is of the essence to investors. This is because a falling overdue ratio can indicate an improvement in the composition of a loan book, but it can also be influenced by rapid growth in new lending. The increase in overdue balances means OPay still has a substantial amount of money awaiting repayment, and some of those delayed payments may not ultimately be recovered.
Tighter Lending Standards Will Face a Critical Test
OPay said it tightened consumer lending and shifted towards merchant loans it considered lower risk after temporarily increasing loan sizes and repayment periods for certain borrowers.
The changes are seen as an indication that the company is adjusting its lending approach in response to credit risks. Merchant lending may offer different underwriting opportunities because business activity and transaction flows can provide information about borrowers, although the filing’s description does not establish that these loans will necessarily perform better.
The next test is whether the revised approach improves repayment performance as newer loans mature. Investors will need to assess if expected credit-loss expenses begin to grow more slowly than lending income, if write-offs moderate, and if overdue balances decline in absolute terms as well as relative to the loan book.
A sustained improvement would strengthen the case that OPay can expand credit while controlling the associated risks. If losses continue to rise faster than lending income, however, the additional revenue could deliver diminishing benefits to shareholders.
The company’s profitability offers some reassurance. Profit after tax increased to $90.87 million even after the higher credit-loss expense, while operating profit rose to $131.24 million from $35.80 million. Revenue also grew faster than total operating expenses, helping improve the overall earnings result.
But these figures do not establish that lending is more profitable than payments on a standalone basis. A proper comparison would require a clearer breakdown of each business’s funding costs, operating expenses, credit losses, and contribution to profit.
What The Numbers Mean for Prospective Shareholders
OPay’s first-half performance presents a combination of strong growth and rising risk. Its expanding payment network provides customer reach and transaction data, while lending has become a major source of incremental income. The company is also generating substantially higher operating profit and net earnings.
The concern is that credit costs are growing faster than lending income, while write-offs have increased sharply. These trends make the sustainability of earnings more important than headline revenue growth alone.
Ultimately, earning more from lending makes OPay a stronger investment only if the additional income produces sustainable returns after credit risk is accounted for. The first-half results establish the scale of its expansion; its subsequent repayment performance and the valuation offered to investors will help determine whether that growth represents lasting shareholder value.